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Tue, 22 May 2018 19:17:09 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.615 People Who Have Had Cancer Share What Helped Them Most as Patientshttp://cancer.baydakh.com/2018/04/03/15-people-who-have-had-cancer-share-what-helped-them-most-as-patients/
http://cancer.baydakh.com/2018/04/03/15-people-who-have-had-cancer-share-what-helped-them-most-as-patients/#respondTue, 03 Apr 2018 10:35:30 +0000http://cancer.baydakh.com/?p=1392

If you or a loved one has ever received a cancer diagnosis, you might understand how important supportive friends and family can be. Sometimes, it’s the smaller, day-to-day things that mean the most. Picking the kids up from school, offering a hand to squeeze on a treatment day or just being there to share a laugh can make such a difference for someone who is living with the disease.

1. “My nurses were great listeners. They were compassionate, and I felt like they genuinely cared about me.” — Emily Smurthwaite Freund

2. “Without me asking or saying anything, my neighbor would stop and get my kids to walk to the bus stop. Pancreatic cancer and chemotherapy were hard enough. She made my day a little easier.” — Lisa Bitzel Clevenger

3. People just being kind and friendly have made difficult times more bearable. A smile goes a long way. — Hetti Spagoh

4. “The best nurse I had told me about how hard the fatigue was going to be… and she was spot on; it was brutal.” — Lucas Damm

6. “Expressions of sympathy have turned out to be more comforting to me than words of encouragement because sometimes you don’t know if you can believe the positive stuff. When someone expresses sympathy, they’re acknowledging how sh*tty it is, and that makes me feel like they’re really thinking of me and how I must feel.” — Rosaleen D’Angelo

7. “When I was first in the hospital and had just been diagnosed, my nurse sat up with me one night when I was terrified. She held my hand, and we just talked. She nodded and listened and validated my fears, and gave me honest answers and strength with her calm, gentle words.” — Sara Thompson

9. “Being treated like a normal human being. We aren’t fragile or brittle. We just want people to treat us like everyone else.” — Stephanie Carine Muir

10. “When I had cancer, my kids were the most supportive. When I lost my hair, they colored on my head. When the hair started growing back they all put little barrettes in my hair. It made me laugh so hard.” — Sandra Lee Elliott

11. “My dad stayed two weeks in the hospital with me day-and-night so I wasn’t alone and scared, and he drives me to all my appointments.Breast cancer sucks, but when you have family and friends for support, it makes it bearable.” — Alisha Ann Pelt

12. “My best friends brought me food and took me grocery shopping. Also, my friends treated me as a person and not a person with cancer.” — Krystyna Pentlicki-Maloney

13. “My daughters, who were only 15, 12 and 8 when this started, refused to leave me. Even though it was ugly and I didn’t want them to see it all, they refused to hear that Dad’s or Grandma’s house would be better. They said they would soak in every last minute until I was gone or until I got better. (I’m getting better).” — Jennifer Silver

14. “Doctors coming to me before my surgery and explaining all the ins and outs of the operation to make sure I was fully informed.” — Sean Walsh

15. “After my second surgery, a friend used his hotel points so I could stay in a hotel to recuperate for a few days (since my daughter had just turned two and didn’t understand the concept of Mommy needing to recover). Another friend stocked the room with delicious food I could eat, gossip magazines and two beautiful scarves. She also went to the pharmacy to pick up my medicine. Other friends sent chocolate and a nightgown. Yet another sent a check with explicit orders to spend it on myself. I got a pedicure and a pretty dress and felt pretty for the first time in months. The list goes on and on! A gift from the heart does wonders.” — Vanessa Runnalls

The following article will tell you the story of a woman called Jane Plant. Jane is a mother and wife who was diagnosed with cancer in 1987 when she was 42 years old. As soon as she heard her diagnose she was determined to do whatever it takes to fight her disease.

The first thing she did was change her lifestyle. This included a specific dietary regimen. It was this dietary regimen that really improved her health and wellness. Today, she’s sharing her personal experience with women all over the world hoping to raise awareness on alternative ways to fight breast cancer.

At the time when she was first diagnosed with cancer, her husband, an eminent scientist himself, was working in China. With the help of his colleagues, he began researching why breast cancer rates are so low among Chinese women.

At the end of his study, he came up with an effective cancer-fighting technique that he right away proposed to his wife. This method, which has actually proved exceptionally helpful, is now made public. Many people still find this method controversial, but people should be entitled to choosing their own anti-cancer treatment.

JANE’S STORY

Jane received a lot of support in the form of letters and cards by her Chinese colleagues. At one point she said wondering why Chinese women rarely develop breast cancer. It was then that she did a research of her own.

She found that just 14% of the calories in the typical Chinese diet were fat rather than 36% of calories in the Western diet.

But, Jane’s diet before her cancer diagnosis was high in fiber and low in fats, which eliminated fat as a factor to her cancer onset.

After more research, she discovered that the Chinese do not consume dairy products, which took her by surprise. It then struck her that her Chinese colleges never consumed cheese or drank milk, with the reason that milk was for children. Then she also remembered that she didn’t know any Chinese woman feeding her child with cow milk or dairy products.

This only inspired her to continue with her research, which induced another stunning discovery– over 70% of the world population is lactose-intolerant! Plus, milk can set off numerous allergies. Nevertheless, the most shocking thing was that nutritionists turned a blind eye to this.

Jane’s diet was mostly based on dairy before she was diagnosed. She also consumed cheap beef. During chemo, she consumed organic yogurt to support development of beneficial gut bacteria.

At the time of her research, she found out that in 1989, yogurt was connected to ovarian cancer, after numerous women were examined by Dr. Daniel Cramer from Harvard University. The thing is Dr. Daniel monitored the diet of these women only to conclude that ovarian cancer was in some way related to dairy products.

Upon finding this, Jane right away stopped consuming dairy products including butter, milk, and yogurt. Her chemotherapy was not showing any results at the time, so her next step was to get rid of all dairy from her diet. Two weeks later, Jane saw that the lump on her breast started to itch.

It also become much softer and soon afterwards significantly reduced in size. Her test results also revealed that not did her lump shrink its size, however her tumor was also treated.

It all happened in only 6 weeks’ time. The moment neither she nor her husband could find the lump, she decided to see a specialist, who was rather sceptical about her dietary regimen. Having gone through this ordeal, Jane realized that there is some link between breast cancer and dairy products, much like the link between lung cancer and smoking cigarettes.

All in all, Jane is a living example of the effectiveness of dairy free nutrition in fighting breast cancer.

What can I do to help?

Whether your friend or family member is newly diagnosed or in the midst of treatment, she’s unlikely to be wowed by vague offers or having to do your thinking for you. She has enough on her mind; she has cancer. She may not want that tuna casserole or to hear about what treatment your Aunt Phyllis had either.

So how can you help? There is no one-size-fits-all answer. That’s why we turned to survivors for our list of support dos and don’ts. Our patient-generated advice is sorted into three stages—Diagnosis, Surgery & Treatment, and Recovery—identified by Maureen Broderick, a licensed clinical social worker who has worked with cancer patients and run cancer support groups. Here’s what you need to know.

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Learn to listen

“One of the most important ways a friend supported me was by listening to me as I decided what to do,” says Orinda, Calif. writer Victoria Irwin, 57, who had a lumpectomy and radiation earlier this year. “When I was in decision-making mode, it’s all I could think about or talk about. My friend listened to me over and over again. I think she learned more than she ever wanted to, and she helped me formulate the questions I needed to ask at doctor’s appointments,” she says. “She didn’t give advice, but acknowledged the difficulty of the situation. That listening was the most helpful thing she could have done.”

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Be my note taker and advocate

A year after having a stroke, New Jersey homemaker Florence Tweel, 55, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her first concern was her children, who were 12 and 15.

“I needed all of my strength to focus on how I was going to get through this and tell my children,” Tweel says. “I was lucky to have a friend, Linda, who went with me to every appointment. She wouldn’t let me out of her sight. It wasn’t my job to understand anything that was being told to me medically because she took notes on it and we’d go back to her husband, who is a doctor, to get advice.” Linda’s support gave Tweel the energy to be at her best with her family and get the treatment she needed. “She was a Godsend,” she says.

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Follow his or her breast cancer page

A great way to help a breast cancer patient is to visit their page on a site like Mylifeline.org,Caringbridge.org,Lotsahelpinghands.com, or Carepages.com (or help them set one up if they don’t have one). Such sites let people (or friends or family) build private or public communities where patient updates and schedules can be shared, says Broderick.

People can ask for and get the kind of help they really want and need. Survivor Anne Steele, 51, Hermosa Beach, California, who had chemo, a lumpectomy, and radiation, for example, liked having companions with her during chemo while Victoria Irwin, who spent her chemo time in solitary pursuits like reading, preferred to save friends’ graciousness for another time.

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Read my blog

Many of the sites that offer scheduling let breast cancer patients or their families or friends blog about their treatment and recovery progress. Dawn Bontempo, 42, a civil servant in the department of veteran affairs in Arlington, Virginia, created a Mylifeline.org account right after she was diagnosed last year. She spread the word and link to friends, family, and colleagues via a Facebook post.

“I don’t ask for help easily, so this made that part simpler,” she says. “The ‘help’ was essential to my fight. But my blog kept everybody—all my long-distance family and friends—in the loop and up to date.” I can’t underestimate the importance.” Bontempo’s blog posts turned into a book, Breast Cancer Mardi Gras: Surviving the Emotional Hurricane and Showing My Boobs to Strangers.

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Give me phone numbers

“People would start to tell me about their friends who survived cancer and, to be honest, I really didn’t want to hear about it,” admits Anne Steele. Hearing another person’s story secondhand, even if it had a good outcome, didn’t feel like encouragement to Steele. Talking directly to other people with breast cancer, however, can be helpful. “If a friend gave me a survivor’s contact information, that was beneficial,” says Steele, who could follow up with a call when she felt like it.

“Make sure to ask the women you know with breast cancer if they want to be connected with others who have it,” says Jodi Maslowski, 45, a human resources manager in Phoenix. She said yes when she was diagnosed at the age of 36 with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and was connected with three young area women.

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Be my email pen pal

When the unknown looms, hearing from someone who’s “been there” can really make a difference, says Mary Vaughan, 58, of Gaithersburg, Md. She found that understanding someone at church; a fellow member who’d had breast cancer some years earlier started writing her emails full of hard-won advice.

“First, she told me I could get in touch anytime, day or night. That was so comforting,” says Vaughan. She gave her tips that were practical (how to screen offers of help and get what you really need) and the more emotional (“Let yourself cry or be angry—that’s important. It’s a way of letting yourself get to know yourself better during this time of self discovery”).

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Keep it light

Sue Murrian, 62, a Knoxville homemaker who had a lumpectomy and radiation for her early-stage breast cancer, most appreciated “help” with a light-hearted approach. “It was important to me to keep up my spirits,” she says. The best care package came from a sister-in-law. “In it were these little press-on tattoos. They came with a note that said, ‘Put these on your breast and surprise your radiation technicians!’ I got the biggest kick out of that.”

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Make a silly cake

Bontempo didn’t mince words when she was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. She invited everyone via a Facebook post to help her kick cancer’s ass. Her office responded with a “Go Kick Cancer’s Ass!” party that included a cake with the same message.

Steele’s friends threw her bald head a party. “People were wonderful; they showed up wearing funny wigs, hats, and scarfs and bought me hats, wigs, and scarves to wear and keep. A friend had a cake made of me and put curly green hair on my bald head,” she says. “It actually made baldness fun!”

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Distract me with little surprises

“At some point I must’ve told one of my co-workers about how when I was a child and I’d get sick my mother would always buy me a little gift,” recalls Aimee Johnson, 46, executive director of the Alabama arm of the American Diabetes Association. So, the first time she went to chemotherapy, Johnson’s staff had a little present for her. “And then every time I went to chemo, there was a gift—Netflix to watch or a book to read while I was there,” she says. “Or flowers to take home.”

A friend of Victoria Irwin’s bought her tickets to a concert series. “That was her gift to me—the gift of distraction from treatment. Otherwise my days would have revolved around radiation in the morning,” Irwin says. “The little distractions help you feel normal.”

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Help me understand that I need help

“It’s so awkward to receive.” Johnson was one of the many breast cancer survivors who expressed this sentiment. Many women are very good at being givers, but not takers. “I’m private,” she says, “and I kept telling myself that it was more comfortable for me to be miserable by myself.” But after repeatedly refusing neighbors’ offers of help, they forced a bit of an intervention. “They came over and said, ‘Look, you’ve got to be more receptive to us doing things for you, even if it’s just for us.’ That’s when I took down those walls.”

It took Jodie Maslowski awhile to realize that telling people “No” was devastating to them. “I finally learned to accept the help and I loved it,” she says. “It’s now the first thing I tell cancer patients I mentor: you need to help people help you.”

Medical experts have said that colon cancer is one of the most conspicuous and dangerous forms of cancer that the world has, and yet it does not get the same exposure as the other cancers have.

In the year 2016, there are around 140,000 people who have been diagnosed with these kinds of cancer, either colon or rectal cancer.

The symptoms of this kind of cancer are effortlessly ignored and numerous people don’t receive the necessary treatment on time.

In this article, we will be talking about the most common ignored symptoms of colorectal cancer, as well as how to reduce the risk of its appearance in the very first place.

Cramps

Abdominal cramps are one of the symptoms of numerous health issues which are not really cancerous situations and that is the reason why people have easily ignored it. You have to put in your mind that in case you have experienced abdominal cramps, you should not be worried. Still, it is essential to make a difference, if the stomach cramps have last longer and if it is too intense, then that might be a sign of colorectal cancer. You have to see a medical expert immediately.

Fatigue

Numerous people have been ignoring this sign as something less serious than it may be. In fact, these days, this kind of situation is not really something that is new. A lot of people feel fatigue without having the condition, and lack of sleep is the most common reason. In the case where fatigue has become continuous, even though you have slept enough and your diet is just well-balanced, along with other signs of colorectal cancer, you have to instantly visit a medical expert.

Experts have explained that the major reason behind fatigue and cancer are linked to the usage of cancer cell of the energy of the body. Besides fatigue, this kind of cancer may also lead to blood loss.

Unexpected Weight Loss

Unexpected and dramatic weight loss may be an indicator of numerous kinds of cancer. The unexplained weight loss commonly described as an unintentional loss of at least 5% of your body weight in the period of six months.

For example, in the condition when someone who is 150 pounds will lose about 7 ½ pounds during the six months without doing anything can be determined as unexplained weight loss.

Just like what we have mentioned earlier, cancer cells use a major part of the energy of the body and besides that, it also affects the immune system. The immune system is responsible for fighting against the diseases, as well as keeping it from spreading. That is the reason why in this kind of situation people often lose a huge amount of weight.

When it comes to colon cancer, it is possible that a large tumor has been blocking the colon that affects the bowel movement that will lead to severe weight loss.

Irregular Bowel Movements

It is not common for a lot of people to give too much attention to their bowel movements. The timing, consistency and the appearance of these movements can actually indicate numerous health problems, which include the presence of colorectal cancer.

Colon polyps is known as a small amount of cells that can eventually turn into a cancerous one, and because of that, the bowel movements are being affected when they have actually turned into tumors. These tumors has the ability to affect the way your large intestine works and it will lead to changes in the stool.

How to Lower the Risk of Colon Cancer

If your family has a history of cancer, or if you are already suffering from an inflammatory condition of your bowels, here are several things that you have to begin doing immediately:

-Consume fruits, veggies, as well as grains. These are the fiber-rich foods that have the ability to clear the toxic waste from your intestine and also to promote healthy bowel movements in order to keep you regular and clear. Some of these foods can also reduce the inflammation.
-Do some exercise regularly. Exercise is important in order to maintain a healthy weight, as well as fighting against inflammation and clear toxins. Moreover, it has the ability to support the proper function of bowel.
-Do not smoke. Smoking increases the risk of every kind of cancer, which include the colon and rectum cancer.
-Manage your weight. Both of obese and overweight people are more prone to develop colorectal cancer. The risk of dying from this disease if also greater.

]]>http://cancer.baydakh.com/2018/02/11/5-uncommon-signs-of-colon-cancer-that-many-of-us-unintentionally-ignore/feed/0Cancer-stricken teen, who has just weeks to live, set to marry high school sweethearthttp://cancer.baydakh.com/2018/01/27/cancer-stricken-teen-who-has-just-weeks-to-live-set-to-marry-high-school-sweetheart/
http://cancer.baydakh.com/2018/01/27/cancer-stricken-teen-who-has-just-weeks-to-live-set-to-marry-high-school-sweetheart/#respondSat, 27 Jan 2018 06:46:42 +0000http://cancer.baydakh.com/?p=1234Their community rallied together to organize their wedding in less than a week

Nineteen-year-old Dustin Snyder is battling cancer, and his final wish is to marry his high school sweetheart, Sierra Siverio. And to make his last wish come true, his entire community in Planty City, South Florida rallied together and managed to organize their wedding, which is set to take place on Sunday.

Dustin plans to marry his high school sweetheart at the Big Red Barn. (Courtesy: Brittany Hails and ABC News)

Dustin, who has been battling cancer on and off for roughly a year, was given the heartbreaking news three weeks ago that there was nothing more doctors could do for him.

Dustin Snyder, who has terminal cancer, is set to marry his high school sweetheart, Sierra Siverio, on Jan. 28, 2018. (Courtesy: Brittany Hails and ABC News)

Dustin’s mother, Cassandra Fondahn, said the last few days have been a whirlwind as they decided to fulfil his wish sooner than later. Dustin plans to marry his high school sweetheart at the Big Red Barn, which is donating their space for the nuptials free of charge.

Dustin Snyder, 19, with his girlfriend Sierra Siverio (Facebook)

Dustin was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, a day before his 18th birthday. After surgery to remove the affected lung and chemotherapy, doctors reported the cancer was gone. However, three weeks ago, Dustin was rushed to the hospital when he started experiencing abdominal pain.

That’s where he found out that his cancer came back, and took over his stomach and pelvic area. He is currently on hospice and has a pain pump connected to his heart, News4Jax reported.

LifePath Hospice is also donating the flowers and bridesmaid dresses for the wedding. (Courtesy: Brittany Hails and ABC News)

“I’m blessed that he has her and that all the time that he’s gone through, she’s literally been by his side the whole time,” Cassandra told ABC News. “That’s a lot for a 19-year-old girl.”

Dustin, pictured left before his diagnosis and right earlier this month after multiple surgeries and chemotherapy treatments (Facebook)
]]>http://cancer.baydakh.com/2018/01/27/cancer-stricken-teen-who-has-just-weeks-to-live-set-to-marry-high-school-sweetheart/feed/0Cancer in a Can: The Shocking True Story of how Pringles are Madehttp://cancer.baydakh.com/2017/11/09/cancer-in-a-can-the-shocking-true-story-of-how-pringles-are-made/
http://cancer.baydakh.com/2017/11/09/cancer-in-a-can-the-shocking-true-story-of-how-pringles-are-made/#respondThu, 09 Nov 2017 19:23:55 +0000http://cancer.baydakh.com/?p=1044

To understand the nature of Pringles and other stackable chips, forget the notion that they come from actual potatoes in any recognizable way.
The Pringles Company (in an effort to avoid taxes levied against “luxury foods” like chips in the UK) once even argued that the potato content of their chips was so low that they are technically not even potato chips.

So if they’re not made of potatoes, what are they exactly?
The process begins with a slurry of rice, wheat, corn, and potato flakes that are pressed into shape.
This dough-like substance is then rolled out into an ultra-thin sheet cut into chip-cookies by a machine.

According to io9:“The chips move forward on a conveyor belt until they’re pressed onto molds, which give them the curve that makes them fit into one another.

Those molds move through boiling oil … Then they’re blown dry, sprayed with powdered flavors, and at last, flipped onto a slower-moving conveyor belt in a way that allows them to stack.

From then on, it’s into the cans … and off towards the innocent mouths of the consumers.”

I suspect nearly everyone reading this likely enjoys the taste of potato chips. However, they are clearly one of the most toxic processed foods you can eat—whether they’re made from actual potato shavings or not.

Potato Chips are Loaded with Cancer-Causing Chemical

One of the most hazardous ingredients in potato chips is not intentionally added, but rather is a byproduct of the processing.

Acrylamide, a cancer-causing and potentially neurotoxic chemical, is created when carbohydrate-rich foods are cooked at high temperatures, whether baked, fried, roasted or toasted. Some of the worst offenders include potato chips and French fries, but many foods cooked or processed at temperatures above 212°F (100°C) may contain acrylamide. As a general rule, the chemical is formed when food is heated enough to produce a fairly dry and brown/yellow surface. Hence, it can be found in:

-Potatoes: chips, French fries and other roasted or fried potato foods

How Much Acrylamide are You Consuming?

The federal limit for acrylamide in drinking water is 0.5 parts per billion, or about 0.12 micrograms in an eight-ounce glass of water. However, a six-ounce serving of French fries can contain 60 micrograms of acrylamide, or about FIVE HUNDRED times over the allowable limit.

Similarly, potato chips are notoriously high in this dangerous chemical. So high, in fact, that in 2005 the state of California actually sued potato chip makers for failing to warn California consumers about the health risks of acrylamide in their products. A settlement was reached in 2008 when Frito-Lay and several other potato chip makers agreed to reduce the acrylamide levels in their chips to 275 parts per billion (ppb) by 2011, which is low enough to avoid needing a cancer warning label.

Beware: Baked Chips May Be WORSE than Fried!

If you think you can avoid the health risks of potato chips by choosing baked varieties, which are typically advertised as being “healthier,” think again. Remember that acrylamide is formed not only when foods are fried or broiled, but also when they are baked. And according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data on acrylamide levels in foods, baked chips may contain more than three times the level of acrylamide as regular chips!

Interestingly, the same trend holds true for other foods, too, which suggests that baking processed potatoes at high temperature may be one of the worst ways to cook them. For instance, according to the FDA’s data, Ore Ida Golden Fries contained 107 ppb of acrylamide in the regular fried version and 1,098 when baked. So remember, ALL potato chips contain acrylamide, regardless of whether they are natural or not; baked or fried. Likewise, they will ALL influence your insulin levels in a very negative way.

Acrylamide is Not the Only Danger

Acrylamide is not the only dangerous genotoxic compound formed when food is heated to high temperatures.

A three-year long EU project, known as Heat-Generated Food Toxicants (HEATOX), whose findings were published at the end of 2007, found there are more than 800 heat-induced compounds, of which 52 are potential carcinogens. In addition to their finding that acrylamide does pose a public health threat, the HEATOX scientists also discovered that you’re far less likely to ingest dangerous levels of the toxin when you eat home-cooked foods compared to industrially or restaurant-prepared foods.

Additionally, the HEATOX findings also suggest that although there are ways to decrease exposure to acrylamide, it cannot be eliminated completely.

According to their calculations,successful application of all presently known methods would reduce the acrylamide intake by40 percent at the most—which makes me wonder whether chip manufacturers have really succeeded at this point in reducing acrylamide levels to within legal limits… There’s no updated data as of yet, so there’s no telling whether they’ve been able to comply with the 2005 settlement.

-Heterocyclic Amines (HCAs): These form when meat is cooked at high temperatures, and they’re also linked to cancer. In terms of HCA, the worst part of the meat is the blackened section, which is why you should always avoid charring your meat, and never eat blackened sections.

-Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs): When food is cooked at high temperatures (including when it is pasteurized or sterilized), it increases the formation of AGEs in your food. When you eat the food, it transfers the AGEs into your body. AGEs build up in your body over time leading to oxidative stress, inflammation and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease.

The Search for a “Healthful” Chip Continues…

Like a modern-day search for the Holy Grail, chip manufacturers keep searching for methods to improve the image of their health-harming but profitable snacks. For example, by the end of 2011, about half of Pepsi’s Frito-Lay brand snacks will be reformulated with all-natural ingredients. The switch is part of PepsiCo’s master plan to tap into the healthy foods market share. The Wall Street Journal recently reported the company hopes to boost their nutrition business from $10 billion to $30 billion by 2020.

The company will remove dietary hazards like monosodium glutamate (MSG), replacing it with natural seasonings, such as molasses and paprika. Artificial colors will be replaced with beet juice, purple cabbage and carrots. All in all, about different 60 snacks are scheduled to get an all-natural makeover.

This is certainly a good example of how consumer demand can alter the direction of food manufacturers in a positive way.

The reformulated chips may end up being less bad for you than the original formulations. However, chips will never be truly healthful. All-natural chips may be the lesser of two evils, but if consumed regularly, they will still push your health in the wrong direction… There’s no getting away from the fact that modern plagues such as cancer, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes have a dietary component, and potato chips and French fries will always be a losing bet if you want to avoid becoming another disease statistic.

How to Avoid Heat-Induced Toxins in Your Diet

Ideally, you should consume foods that are raw or minimally processed to avoid these types of toxic byproducts—the more raw food, the better. My nutrition plan emphasizes the need for at least one-third of your foods to be consumed raw. Personally, I consume about 80 percent of my food raw, and I find it is one of the most important factors that help keep me healthy.

It may take you awhile to switch over to a less processed diet, but throwing out the most obvious culprits would be a great start.

These would include:

-French fries and potato chips

-All sodas (both regular and diet, as artificial sweeteners may be more problematic than fructose)

-Doughnuts

Healthy Eating Made Easy

Aside from creating potentially toxic byproducts, cooking and processing also depletes the food of valuable micronutrients, which is another reason for eating as much raw food as possible. This includes protein sources such as eggs. Raw whole eggs from organic, pastured chickens are an incredible source of high-quality nutrients that many are deficient in. Raw milk is another good example of a food that is beneficial in its raw state but becomes harmful after it is pasteurized.

By opting for foods that will benefit your health, such as raw, preferably organic and/or locally-grown vegetables, organic grass-fed meats, healthy oils, raw dairy, nuts and seeds, you can change your health for the better. These are the foods that are truly natural, and quite easy to prepare once you get the hang of it.

Remember, eating fresh whole foods is the “secret” to getting healthier, losing weight and really enjoying your food. It’s unfortunate that so many are under the mistaken belief that it’s “next to impossible” to create a meal without processed foods. Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough tackle this issue head-on in their book Real Food Has Curves, which is a great starting point to “relearn” the basics of how to enjoy and prepare real food.

Once you get used to it, you’ll find you can whip up a healthful meal from scratch in the same amount of time it would have taken you to drive down the street to pick up fast food. The main difference will be greater satisfaction, both physically and mentally, and perhaps even financially, as processed foods typically end up being more expensive than cooking from scratch.

Earlier this week, many Facebook users were posting red hearts in support of breast cancer awareness, but one woman is opening up about why a “cute heart” isn’t going to help save lives. Erin Smith Chieze posted the photo above on Facebook, giving an explicit description of how breast cancer can look and feel, and it’s going viral for all the right reasons. In response to all the red hearts Erin has seen on Facebook, she explained the importance of these lemons.

“In December of 2015 when I saw an indentation that looked like one of those pictures, I instantly knew I had breast cancer,” she wrote. “I tried to feel for a tumor, but my tumor was non palpable. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 days later and with stage 4 the following month. A heart did nothing for awareness. I knew what breast cancer was. I knew all about self exams, but a picture of what to look for keyed me into knowing I had a terminal disease.”

She continued, “We need to give REAL information, not cute hearts. Without having seen a picture randomly with real information, I wouldn’t have known what to look for. Do us a favor, stop playing games with my life and start truly helping people. Metastatic breast cancer treatment research and real awareness.”

After feeling frustrated by the red hearts on Facebook, Erin decided to take matters into her own hands and post her touching story in an effort to help save lives the way a similar photo helped her. This image is part of the Know Your Lemons campaign started by the Worldwide Breast Cancer organization. It’s an incredibly informative graphic that both men and women should use for self-exams.

“PLEASE, stop playing games that do not actually promote awareness, they often cause people to tune out anything that might even mention the word awareness,” Erin wrote. “So if you truly want to help people WITH cancer, or those who will GET cancer, share photos like this one.”

Choosing alternative medicine to treat curable cancer instead of conventional cancer treatments more than doubles your risk of dying in five years, according to a new study.

There’s no denying that alternative medicine is a hugely popular choice for many Americans, with one in three taking some kind of alternative remedy – but new data shows that rejecting conventional medicine when faced with a cancer diagnosis is an extremely risky gamble.

Researchers from Yale University analysed 10 years of records in the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2013 and identified 281 patients who had presented with early-stage breast, prostate, lung, or colorectal cancer – but decided to forgo conventional treatments in favour of alternative approaches.

These individuals make up only a small minority of cancer patients overall, but for many, their decision to reject conventional treatments ended up coming at a big cost.

When the researchers compared their survival rates with 560 patients facing the same diagnoses but who opted to receive conventional chemotherapy, surgery, and/or radiation treatments, the individuals who elected to solely take alternative medicine were overall two and a half times more likely to die within five years.

Sobering stats to be sure, but the prospects were even graver in three of the cancer sub-groups.

People taking alternative medicine for breast cancer were 5.68 times more likely to be dead in five years. For colorectal cancer it was 4.57 times, and lung cancer had a factor of 2.17 times.

What brought the overall average down was prostate cancer, for which there wasn’t a statistically significant association between alternative medicine and early death – but, as the researchers acknowledge, that’s likely because prostate cancer is a slowly progressing disease, whose ultimate long-term impact fell outside the scope of the study.

“It is our hope that this information can be used by patients and physicians when discussing the impact of cancer treatment decisions on survival.”

What drew the researchers to the study was the lack of data examining how effective (or not) alternative approaches were for treating cancer.

The team acknowledges that the research didn’t examine which particular alternative medicines were taken by the patients studied – and there’s no inference that all alternative approaches are equally effective or ineffective.

“They could be herbs, botanicals, homeopathy, special diets, or energy crystals, which are basically just stones that people believe have healing powers,” Johnson explained to Jessica Hamzelou at New Scientist.

The sheer range of alternative treatments on offer is something that needs to be looked at, the team says, because until we know more about what specific alternative medicines people are taking and how it’s affecting them, both doctors and patients are in the dark.

It’s a tricky area, because while the study shows that on the whole alternative medicines don’t seem to be anywhere near as effective at reducing the short-term risk of death in cases of cancer, occasionally traditional medicines are sometimes shown by scientists to contain molecular properties that are hugely helpful at fighting disease.

Sadly, without rigorous scientific testing, it’s impossible to know for sure – and it’s not always easy for people to differentiate between reliable medical advice and the pervasive pseudoscience that abounds on the internet.

That’s especially relevant, given the researchers found that those who elected to take alternative medicine in the study were on the whole younger, with higher income and more education – but despite these advantages, they chose unconventional courses of treatment that mostly didn’t work out well for them.

“Anytime we do these types of retrospective studies, we worry about selection bias,” one of the team, James Yu told Charles Bankhead at MedPage Today.

“In this study, all the biases were in favour of alternative medicine, in that the cohort was younger, more affluent, and had fewer comorbidities. These patients should be doing better than the standard therapy group, but they’re not.

“That’s a scary thing to me. These are young patients who could potentially be cured, and they’re being sold snake oil by unscrupulous alternative medicine practitioners.”

Hopefully, with this new data at hand, it’s easier for doctors to help communicate some of the risks surrounding alternative medicines to treat cancer, cutting through misinformation people may have heard from friends or read on the internet.

Because ultimately, of course, the choice is up to them.

“If patients make an informed decision, because of patient autonomy, they can do whatever they want,” Yu said.

]]>http://cancer.baydakh.com/2017/08/21/treating-cancer-with-alternative-medicine-more-than-doubles-your-risk-of-dying/feed/0Blood Test Finds Cancer Before Symptoms Starthttp://cancer.baydakh.com/2017/08/17/blood-test-finds-cancer-before-symptoms-start/
http://cancer.baydakh.com/2017/08/17/blood-test-finds-cancer-before-symptoms-start/#respondThu, 17 Aug 2017 23:45:23 +0000http://cancer.baydakh.com/?p=819Researchers say they have taken a big step towards developing a test that can tell people if they have cancer long before the first symptoms show up.

The blood test detected the majority of cancers in people with four of the biggest cancer killers: breast, colon, lung and ovarian cancer, the team at Johns Hopkins University said.

Scientists have discovered that dying tumor cells release small pieces of their DNA into the bloodstream. These pieces are called cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA).National cancer Institute

The test is a long way from being used to screen for cancer, but the study shows a way to get there, the team reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

“There is a lot of excitement about liquid biopsies, but most of that has been in late-stage cancer or in individuals where you already know what to look for,” said Dr. Victor Velculescu, professor of oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University Kimmel Cancer Center.

“The surprising result is that we can find a high fraction of early-stage patients having alterations in their blood,” said Velculescu, who led the study team.

It was not a slam dunk, but the test found cancer in the blood of more than half the patients who had been diagnosed with stage 1 cancer. It was even more accurate in finding late-stage cancers, but the goal would be to catch cancer in its earliest, easiest-to-treat stage.

There were no false positives in 44 people who did not have cancer, they said. That’s important, said Dr. Wyndham Wilson of the National Cancer Institute, because there is no point detecting cancer in people if the cancer is not going to actually cause trouble.

“You don’t want to go screening people for hallmark (cancer) mutations unless you absolutely know that when you find it, that there is a tumor there and that it is a tumor that needs to be treated,” said Wyndham, who was not involved in the study.

Sometimes, early-stage tumors or precancerous growths just go away — attacked by the immune system or because they don’t thrive for other reasons.

Several different liquid biopsies are already on the market, used to help track whether cancer treatments are working. But there’s nothing yet that can detect cancer in someone who has not yet been diagnosed.

It’s easy to find tumor mutations if you know what to look for. “The challenge was to develop a blood test that could predict the probable presence of cancer without knowing the genetic mutations present in a person’s tumor,” Velculescu said.

Velculescu’s team developed an approach called targeted error correction sequencing (TEC-Seq for short).

“We have used this approach to examine 58 cancer-related genes,” the team wrote in their report. The method involved deep sequencing – sequencing DNA 30,000 times over to look for mutations in DNA from tumor cells that floats in the blood.

Cancer patients had more of this DNA in their blood, the team found.

They identified 62 percent of the patients with stage I cancer – four out of eight colon cancer patients, and 90 percent of colon cancer patients with stage II, III or IV disease.

They got a positive in 45 percent of the lung cancer patients with stage I disease, 67 percent of ovarian cancer patients with stage I disease and 67 percent of breast cancer patients with stage I disease.

While that’s good, it’s not a great result. The test still missed a large percentage of cancers and will need much improvement, Velculescu said.

It will also have to be tried in larger groups of patients, and patients with different cancers. The first goal would be to try it in people at high risk of cancer but no symptoms yet – such as smokers, or people with cancer-causing gene mutations like BRCA mutations, Velculescu said.

Wyndham said it will be important to study such tests in large groups of people who have not had cancer diagnosed, to see if it can truly be used to screen asymptomatic people for cancer. And then it will have to be shown that using the test allows doctors to intervene sooner and help people.

Catching cancer in its earliest stages could save many lives. Cancer is the No. 2 killer overall in the United States.

”The survival difference between late stage and early stage disease in these cancers would account for more than a million lives each year worldwide,” Velculescu said.

The genetic sequencing is also expensive right now – on the order of several thousand dollars for the 30,000 repeats the team did. But costs are coming down steadily, he said.

Velculescu said Johns Hopkins had patented this test, and Velculescu is himself the founder of a company that does liquid biopsies for advanced cancer patients called Personal Genome Diagnostics.

Currently, colon cancer can be detected very early with colonoscopies, and even stopped before pre-cancerous growths get out of control. But colonoscopies are uncomfortable and carry a small risk of injury.

]]>http://cancer.baydakh.com/2017/08/17/blood-test-finds-cancer-before-symptoms-start/feed/0This One Fruit Kills Malignant Cells of 12 Different Types of Cancerhttp://cancer.baydakh.com/2016/12/28/this-one-fruit-kills-malignant-cells-of-12-different-types-of-cancer/
http://cancer.baydakh.com/2016/12/28/this-one-fruit-kills-malignant-cells-of-12-different-types-of-cancer/#respondWed, 28 Dec 2016 18:11:39 +0000http://cancer.baydakh.com/?p=538Recent research has shown that the extract of the Graviola fruit, or also known as soursop or guyabano, effectively destroys the malignant cells of 12 different cancer types.

Apparently, the extract of this miraculous fruit can kill the affected cells in the case of lung, colon, liver, pancreatic, cervical, prostate, ovarian, and breast.

This discovery may be of immense importance in the treatment of this deadly disease.

A pathologist from the University of Nebraska found that this fruit has incredible effects in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, as it dramatically reduced the tumorigenicity and altered the metabolism of the tumor cells.

Also, a lab study showed that the extract of this fruit is even 10 000 times more powerful in destroying colon cancer cells than Adriamycin, which is a common chemotherapy drug. Also, its great advantage is its ability to only destroys the cancer cells, and not affect the healthy ones.

This fruit has shown amazing results in the treatment of cervical cancer as well.

A study has also shown that it stops the growth of the cancer cells, as the dietary extract of this fruit triggered a dramatical growth inhibition of MDA-MB-468 cells in vitro and in vivo studies through a mechanism that engages the EGFR/ERK signaling pathway.

This actually means that it may protect women from EGFR- over-expressing BC.

Yet, its amazing properties do not stop here, as researchers found that Graviola can provide positive effects in the treatment of other cancer types as well.

Its miraculous effects have been attributed to the presence of acetogenins, which are potent substances that can inhibit the NADH oxidase of the cancer cells plasma membranes, and thus inhibit the growth of cancer.